Disc Deathbed: Is the Optical Drive Obsolete?

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One of the most interesting parts of the recent Apple Mac Mini
and MacBook Air refresh is that Apple is moving away from optical
drives. Apple isn't the only company to do so, raising the
question "Is the optical drive going the way of the floppy disk?"

CD and DVD optical drives have enjoyed a long and integral
history with the personal computer, but increased connectivity
and flash memory technology have made it less essential in recent
years. The new Mac Mini eschews the optical drive and the MacBook
Air — which never had an optical drive —completely replaced the
standard MacBook that did have an optical drive (although the
MacBook Pro still retains its optical drive).

And Apple isn't alone in making devices that don't need discs.
Netbooks, the smaller and cheaper versions of laptops, have never
had optical drives, either. Instead they rely on downloading the
software they need directly from the manufacturer. The next
generation of devices — smartphones
and tablets —were designed from the ground up to never need
physical media at all.

There are increasing incentives to remove optical drives, too.
Sergis Mushell, an analyst with the Gartner research firm,
explained to TechNewsDaily that increased demand for thinner
devices forces manufacturers to remove optical drives.

"There is a move toward no optical drives, primarily driven by
form factor, because thinner is the goal. Thinner is better these
days," Mushell said.

Efforts to increase battery performance also obviate the use of
optical drives.

"Optical drives require motors to spin the disc, and this uses
more battery," Mushell said. "Companies are taking out motorized
drives to improve battery life."

App stores are contributing to the obsolescence of optical
drives. Increasingly, consumers are downloading software instead
of buying a disc in a box. Even though the app store trend
started with phones, many software publishers are creating their
own online portals for selling computer software, no disc
required.

Apple has started
the Mac App Store, offering most of the major Mac programs
for download, including the
Mac OS X operating system itself, meaning that even desktop
owners may never need another disc. And the PC gaming industry,
which has relied heavily on CD and DVD sales for decades, has
turned to online shops such as Steam, GOG.com and Origin to offer
downloads directly to buyers.

So it seems that optical drives are on a fast path to oblivion,
right?

Not yet.

Mushell said that optical drives still have life in them, though
they will never be present in thinner devices. He pointed out
that many professional-grade programs still come on discs and
professional users will continue to use optical drives for years
to come.

Thinness won't be an issue for some devices, Mushell added.
Desktops obviously have plenty of room for optical drives, and
even the MacBook Pro, Apple's high-end laptop, won't ever get
much thinner because of the constraints of other technology
inside — for instance, the cutting-edge processors will still
need heat sinks that restrict how thin the device can get.

Even the move toward downloadable content isn't an instant
replacement for discs in some areas.

"It depends on geography," Mushell said. "Many people are still
attached to their physical media, and many people don't have fast
enough broadband connectivity, making it difficult to rely on
downloads."

In many parts of the world, including rural and suburban areas of
Europe and North America, many people still don't have much
better than dial-up Internet speeds. Until broadband reaches
them, physical discs and optical drives will still be an
important factor for computer owners.

Mushell emphasizes that optical drives aren't dead, yet. And even
as people migrate towards digital downloads, he said that
external optical drives, which can be plugged into devices and
used with multiple machines, will become an important tool.